mrsnikkik

Hi All,

My family and I are traveling to Europe this year and are taking our daughter who has a nut and gluten allergy. We have tried to translate a message that we can give restaurants/kitchen staff when ordering food. But I was hoping that I could get someone who knows both languages to check to see that it does in fact say what we intended. I have included both messages, both Italian and English. Hopefully someone can help. I've just had some people help me with our Dutch card and they were a great help. Due to going through about 6 different countries we will need each language so sorry if you see my posts for each language. Thank so much in advance, Nic

Italian

Il mio figlia è allergico a e ogni tipo di noci e il glutine / frumento. Se lei mangia alimenti che contengono noci, olio di noce, il burro di noci o di grano, mio figlia morirà.

Se il mio bambino mangia qualsiasi tipo di dado o tutti gli alimenti che sono stati cotti con i dadi o dadi toccati, comprese le superfici di preparazione degli alimenti e utensili, lei deve avere aiuto medico immediato perché lei morirà.

Se lei mangia qualsiasi cibo contenente glutine / frumento lei sarà molto malata.

English

My daughter is allergic to all types of nuts and gluten / wheat. If she eats foods that contain nuts, nut oil, nut butters or wheat, my daughter could die.

If my child eat any kind of nuts or any foods that have been cooked with nuts or touched nuts, including food preparation surfaces and utensils, she must have immediate medical help because she could die.

If she eats any food containing gluten / wheat she will be very sick.

quokka

Here is my attempt:

Mia figlia è allergica a ogni tipo di noci e a glutine / frumento. Se lei mangia alimenti che contengono noci, olio di noce, burro di noci o di grano, mia figlia morirà.

Se mia bambina mangia qualsiasi tipo di noci o alimenti che sono stati cotti con noci o hanno toccato noci, comprese le superfici di preparazione degli alimenti e utensili, lei deve avere aiuto medico immediato perché lei potrebbe morire.

Se lei mangia qualsiasi cibo che contiene glutine / frumento lei sarà molto malata.

"Dado" is a bouillon cube. Is that what you want to say? The English version does not mention these.

"Morirà" means "she will die", not "she could die" - do you want it this dramatic?

In the first paragraph you say she'll die if she eats grain in general, in the third that she will be very sick if she eats wheat. That's a contradiction.

ribeirasacra

Part of my reply to your posting in Netherlands section:
If it is so bad that she may die I would personally do my own catering. It is hard not to get cross contamination in restaurants.

sparkchaser

If she is also allergic to peanuts, you better specify that as they are legumes and not nuts. Ditto for coconuts.

If the allergies are really that life threatening then you really should be specific to EXACTLY what the items she is allergic to are and be prepared to pay for professional translation services.

Or, just get self-catering accommodations and cook all of her meals yourself from groceries you have bought yourself.

StCirq

Why not save yourself the trouble and go online and google official translations for these types of situations? You can purchase translation cards for all these languages.

If your daughter is a girl, it's la mia figlia, and the adjective forms like allergica have to line up with that.

sandralist

See if this translation template works for you:

http://www.foodallergyitalia.org/ita...cat=varie&id=2

If not, you can find professionally translated "allergy cards" on the internet. Just do a search. There is nothing wrong with stating facts about the severity of your daughter's allergy, and restuarants in Italy are aware of cross-contamination issues and the possibility that allergens can cause fatalities. You will not be treated poorly.

However, you do need to take care in choosing quality restaurants. Also, familiarize yourself with the typical local cuisine of where specifically you are going in Italy.

Also, reading this forum thread might be really helpful (as well as reading the do's and don'ts at the bottom of the link I gave you above)

http://www.chowhound.com/post/travel...lergies-769036

sandralist

In Italian, one does not say or write "La mia figlia." It is "mia figlia" (never "la")

sandralist

(St Cirq, quit trying to be an Italian teacher, ok? You frequently are creating errors in people's minds)

sandralist

mrsnikkik,

You need to go back to your thread about traveling in the Netherlands and see the additional help you got from people who know what they are talking about. You indicated you were getting ready to use the bad translation someone jumped in to give you without realizing it was poor Dutch. So re-check all your threads because the same people who don't know these languages are misleading you.

I highly recommend that for each of the countries you are going to visit, do a google search for "traveling with food allergies in ________". You will probably find it more useful than asking here and having people attempting to show off at your family's expense.

nochblad

I think you need to be much more specific as well as correct in Italian as sandralist suggests.

First of all make absolutely sure that your card handed to the restaurant is absolutely correct in Italian. I presume you are prepared to spend some money to get this right. With all due respect to the contributors to Fodors, get this right for your daughter's sake. My niece suffers from Ornithine Transcarbamylase Deficiency so I am aware of food intake.

You need to be much more precise. What do you mean by nut allergy? What nuts? Hazelnuts, walnuts, pinenuts, peanuts etc?

IMDonehere

Don't it be better in all languages, if the message was concise? Do you think someone is going to read the entire message?

nochblad

IMDonehere - this is a very serious topic. If you cannot express yourself properly in English take a step back.

IMDonehere

Ncohblad, why are you so nasty? People are trying to make what is important to you, important to someone else. But your myopic anger is interfering.

If you want to protect someone or give someone a warning, you make it clear and concise. The more you write, the less people read and understand. They are waiters and chefs, they are not trained medical professionals.

A lot of restaurants are Mom and Pop shops where they do not have alternative ways of making food. And as noted elsewhere there is some contamination.

Nochblad, like many people with a narrow focus, you can't distinguish between someone who is trying to help and your own anger. Just because they do not say it or see it in the way you do, does not mean they do want to help. Cheesh.

sparkchaser

protip: peanuts are not nuts.

nochblad

IMDonehere - this is something where one actually needs to be myopic.

I have no anger as you suggest but this is something which needs precise medical language.

At the end of the day I would be more sure of what Italian resaturants say than American restaurants.

IMDonehere

Just remember you are trying to make what is important to you, important to a stranger. You are not proselytizing or running a fund raiser. It is one meal, the simpler, the better.

nochblad

IMDonehere - as with all Italian food, the simpler the better.

I am not blowing my trumpet as you seem to think.

OP has to be absolutely clear as to her daughter's allergy. As sparkchaser said - peanuts are not nuts.

ribeirasacra

***peanuts are not nuts***
Very good point but I have already given links to EU regulations in English and it is for the OP to make up her mind how to get allergy across to staff. Staff have to be trained in this aspect.

nochblad

ribeirasacra - Staff have to be trained in this aspect.

True but, at the end of the day, the OP has to take ultimate responsibility. Regarding my niece, my sister would weigh out every single dish to know how much protein there was therein.

If the issue is so serious go airnbn and cook everything yourself and eat out only when you are absolutely sure what is served - ice cream, pizza etc

bvlenci

Noci is a term that is mostly used for walnuts. More generally, nuts are called "frutte secche", and "frutte a guscio" (the standard term). I would use all of these terms to make it absolutely clear. Peanuts and their relatives are "arachidi".

Italy has a high incidence of celiac disease, so most restaurants are well aware of gluten problems and understand about cross contamination. There are even restaurants that are entirely gluten-free.

I would stay away from ice cream unless it's prepackaged and has no reference to nuts. There was a very serious case near where I live, where a family assured themselves that the ice cream contained no nuts, but there was cross-contamination from the scoop.

All pharmacies and almost every supermarket have gluten-free products, such as biscuits and other snacks. If you buy any packaged goods, you should read the label to see if there are any things you might be allergic to. According to the EU regulations, the following gluten-containing substances have to be indicated on labels if they're present: avena, farro, frumento, glutine, grano, Kamut, orzo, and segale (Oats, spelt, wheat, gluten (of course), grain, Kamut, barley, and rye).

The general words that are used for nuts, according to these regulations, are "arachidi" and "frutte a guscio, subdivided into anacardi, mandorle, nocciole, noci, pistacchi" (cashews, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, and pistacchios. These have to be listed on labels if present.

If there's a possibility of trace amounts of an allergen or gluten-containing substance, the label has to say, "Può contenere tracce di: ____ "

Here is the official list of allergens:

http://www.fipe.it/igiene-e-sicurezz...enco-allergeni